A FORMER pub licensee from North Wales was last night banned from keeping animals for five years after he starved a dog and a rabbit to death.

Flintshire magistrates at Mold heard that the precise cause of death was not known because the animals had been dead for so long.

But they were emaciated, had clearly been neglected, and would have suffered considerably, prosecuting solicitor Mr Chris Dawson told magistrates.

Richard Jones, who claimed in court he was an animal lover, admitted two charges of causing unnecessary suffering to the rabbit and a lurcher-type dog found in outbuildings at the rear of the Swan Inn at Rhewl near Mostyn.

In addition to the five-year animal ban, he was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work under a community punishment order.

Magistrates described it as a "horren-dous case" and said Jones must have been stepping over the bodies of the animals for about four weeks but did nothing about it.

Jones, of Cannon Drive in Bagillt, represented himself and accepted that he had been negligent, but said that he was an animal lover.

Mr Dawson told magistrates that on Sunday, March 16, RSPCA Inspector Kevin Patten went to the Swan Inn where he was met by two security officers from the brewery.

The defendant had previously been the licensee of the premises and when the inspector was taken to an outhouse at the back he found a number of cages where there were a number of dead animals including hamsters and ferrets.

On the floor was the emaciated body of a lurcher type dog and in a hutch was the haggard body of a grey rabbit.

The defendant turned up and he accepted that he was the owner of the dog and the rabbit. He said that some-one who had been renting his house in Flint had been looking after them.

Jones told how he discovered that they were being neglected and took them to the outbuilding at the pub. But the dog died the next day and the rabbit died four days later. He was too distraught at what had happened to dispose of the carcasses in a proper way.

The RSPCA tried to carry out post mortem examinations to determine a cause of death but the animals had been dead for too long.

A further interview with Jones took place in July and at that stage, Mr Dawson told the court, the defendant accepted he had been looking after the dog and the rabbit for about four weeks before their deaths.

Jones told magistrates that he no longer had any animals himself although his wife had a horse, which was being cared for in a rented field.

He said loved animals and had grown up with them. What he had done really hurt him and he added "I deserve everything I get".